The Mystery "American Idol" Phone Number Revealed

Wondering what number American Idol came up with to keep
viewers from calling a phone-sex hotline? It's 1-866-IDOLS-36.

Yeah, kind of a weird choice, especially considering that 36
isn't even a multiple of 13, like, say, 26 or 39. Anyway, the
unlucky 13th contestant who got the out-of-sync number was Alexis
Grace, who gave Seacrest a look after he announced the number
like, "What? Why isn't my number 1-866-IDOLS-13?"

Perhaps she wasn't listening to Ryan's radio show this morning.

As Ryan himself speculated on the radio, Alexis seems to be at a
disadvantage because her number isn't as numerically obvious as
the phone numbers for the other 12, but we'll see if that hurts
her chances in the voting tomorrow.

And maybe the next time Idol plans a major twist, it
will check to see if it owns all of the necessary phone numbers
first.